Autonomy of Colleges and Selection for Higher Education in Poland

Abstract

The law of 4 May 1982 on higher education has this to say about the selection of students in Poland: 'The minister (supervising institutions of higher education) sets the principles and limits of admissions for the first year of university studies.... The Main Council (of Science and Higher Education) hands down opinions on the limits of admissions to the first year of university studies.... Admissions to university studies take place through entrance examinations. The scope of the entrance examination is determined by the minister in consultation with the Main Council.... The competent minister [1], after obtaining the opinion of the Main Council and in consultation with the leading bodies of national youth organisations, may establish other conditions, which in addition to the examination take account of the particular or environmental circumstances affecting candidates' preparation and which may have an influence on admission to university studies.' This procedure did not differ much from the regulations contained in earlier laws on higher education. Common to these regulations was that the number of students admitted to university in the entire country was centrally determined. The minister not only set these numbers but also the principles of selecting students, only consulting them through central bodies such as the Main Council or youth organisations. Uniform national selection principles had an influence on school selection throughout the educational system. The number of places in the first year in fact determined the number of people attending institutions of higher education. Nationwide the latter used to be greater than the former, but over a few decades the ratio of those accepted compared to the number of candidates has fluctuated around 1:2. This tendency continued both when 150,000 people applied for admission and 75,000 were accepted, and when these numbers were 100,000 and 50,000 respectively. However, the relationship between the number of applicants and the number of places available in the first year was not the same in all departments: there was a clear hierarchy of attractiveness of individual disciplines and a distribution of places that did not match it. Another pattern promoted by the uniform system of selection was the advantage of general secondary school leavers, who had a greater chance of being admitted to university studies because the entrance examination syllabus was covered in the teaching programme of these schools. Young people with strong academic ambitions chose general secondary education as the shortest and most effective path to university studies. Graduates of these schools made up 75% of candidates admitted to the first year of university studies. Given the limited availability of higher education in Poland, the decision to attend a general